tomorrow on "starting point," it will be a brand new year. we can forget all that stuff, and we'll know if there's a deal on the fiscal cliff or not and what either outcome means for you and your money. we'll talk to sheila bair, former fdic chairwoman. and texas congressman lloyd daggett. so much to talk about tomorrow. i certainly hope a deal has been done. >> nice to work with you. >> are you going to go to times square? >> i'm going to run the park. 2013 starts with a run. i conned my wife into it as well. she'll join me. >> happy new year to you. >> cnn newsroom with suzanne

malveaux begins now. happy new year. stories we're watching now. hours by hour, inch by inch, the nation sliding closer to the fiscal cliff. we'll have more on this morning's negotiations and what we'll lose if those talks fail. and workers in some states may see a pay raise but may not notice much of a difference. guns are flying off the shelves after fears of a ban on assault rifles following the sandy hook massacre. we're live at the white house with the latest details. plus this. >> reporter: i'm alina cho in times square, where just hours from now new york will host what is arguably the biggest new year's eve party in the world. number one tip. if you plan to come to times square, dress warmly. it is frigidly cold. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

good morning. i'm suzanne malveaux sitting in for carol costello. this morning the clock ticking louder. the nation inching closer to this fiscal cliff. we could be just hours away from seeing all of our paychecks shrink. we're following all the last minute drama to avoid that, of course. brianna keilar is covering this morning's urgent talks happening in washington. christine romans is here to talk about the impact first, and alison kosik with how investors are reacting this hour. first, another story. the health condition of the nation's top diplomat. this morning secretary of state hillary clinton is waking up now in a new york hospital. she is being treated for a blood clot that formed after her fall and concussion that happened a few weeks ago. want to bring in dr. sanjay gupta, our chief medical correspondent. sanjay, explain this for us because, first of all, when you think about it, she developed this blood clot related to a concussion. you would think maybe the clot formed in the brain, but that's

not necessarily the case. >> no, it's not necessarily the case. and i think saying it's related to the concussion, that may be putting that wrong impression possibly in people's minds. there's a really simple reason why, suzanne. she's being treated with blood thinners, or anti-coagulants. if this were a blood clot on top of the brain or around the brain, you wouldn't do that because that could worsen the bleeding and prevent an operation from being performed, if that is necessary. again, no one is saying that's the case here. you're absolutely right. the typical sort of blood clots that are treated with blood thinners are something known as dvt, for example, you may have heard of this, deep vein thrombosis. it's something that often occurs in the deep veins of the legs. it can be treated with anti-coagulation. when one of these forms, you can treat that and dissolve it. that's what you want to do. the concern is, if it breaks off, it can actually travel through the body and into the

lungs. that's called a pulmonary embowlism, and that could be a dangerous situation. again, we don't know where the clot is. it could also be in some of the veins around the head. we're still awaiting those details, suzanne. >> sanjay, from what we do know, do we suspect this is something that's very serious? >> given the fact that the initial concussion she was actually told she could stay at home. she went in for an exam yesterday. my guess is, given that it was on a sunday, it wasn't a routine exam. she may have had some particular thing she wanted to get checked out. now the doctors are saying that it will be 48 hours in the hospital, that fits, suzanne, with the amount of time it typically takes to put someone on blood thinners. so if that's the case, i think that all these things could potentially be serious, but from what we're hearing, they caught this in time. >> as secretary of state, she's visited more than 100 countries. it was back in 1998 as first

lady, that i had a chance to travel with her. she had described it afterwards it was one of the most serious health scares she ever had because of a blood clot behind her knee. do we suspect, because it happened once before, it could re-occur time and time again, especially if you travel? >> absolutely. i remember that as well, suzanne. what you're describing is the first time that she had one of these blood clots. if you've had one before, you are at higher risk of having one again. if you add into that the traveling, which people are sitting, and they have their legs bent, and that reduces blood flow around the legs. that could put you at risk. also, after this concussion, one of the things she was told was to take it easy. you and i both know that's not an easy thing for her to do, but if she was taking it easy, lying around, that could put you at increased risk for blood clot as well of all of those things potentially increase the risk. the treatment again, these blood thinners, they usually do the trick. >> we wish her a good recovery.

thank you, sanjay. we know she does not sit still for a minute. appreciate it. thanks again. want to get back to the fiscal cliff, where less than 15 hours from toppling over the edge if lawmakers can't seem to hammer out a deal or work something out. president obama says he is modestly optimistic that negotiations could prevent these huge tax hikes and spending cuts from kicking in. >> we don't yet see an agreement, and now the pressure is on congress to produce. if they don't, what i've said is that in the senate we should go ahead and introduce legislation that would make sure middle class taxes stay where they are, and there should be an up or down vote. everybody should have a right to vote on that. if republicans don't like it, they can vote no. >> brianna keilar, she's at the white house. brianna, they're saying they're going to come back to work in a couple of hours. a lot of people have been up a lot longer than that, up

earlier, trying to figure out what's going on here. i understand you do have some news. potentially there's a new offer on the table. >> reporter: that's right. according to democratic sources, suzanne, they have gone up to $450,000 as the threshold for those income tax rates for where those bush-era tax cuts would expire. so beyond $450,000 for a family. this is somewhat significant because initially the president's starting point, once everything fell apart in his negotiations with speaker boehner, was to go back to $250,000. ultimately, as he was trying to work out a deal with boehner that did fail, he was at $400,000 when things fell apart there. now up to $450,000. presumably, senate republicans would want more than that. after just a whirl wind of negotiations yesterday on capitol hill and just a very busy weekend, negotiations are now going on between senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the

senate, and vice president joe biden. these are the two players right now. they discussed a possible remedy late into the night, around midnight, we are told, by an aide to mitch mcconnell, and at least at the staff level negotiations began again this morning. the question everyone wants to know, suzanne, of course, is are we going over the cliff? it appears very -- it's sort of unclear at this point. it's difficult to see how we kind of don't logistically and politically at this point, but the president has said he's optimistic, and so have some republicans. >> brianna, finally, what is the drop dead last deadline here in terms of whether or not we know this is going to happen or it's not going to happen? >> reporter: that's interesting because everyone would presume the drop dead deadline is tonight, and obviously to avert some of these tax cuts expiring, and it's not just these income tax rates, it's a bunch of other things as well and these spending cuts, that would be tonight. but the sense i'm getting and the sense that i think a lot of

people following us are getting, it's not like the debt ceiling where, if you hit that point and you haven't resolved something, the u.s. defaults on its credit. there's still very serious ramifications, but i think there's this expectation that, even if the fiscal cliff is hit, they will continue to work, try to hash out a deal. the pressure will only increase, obviously, as americans respond and the markets respond. so they would try in the days following still to reach an agreement. >> all right. we're going to be following you throughout the day, brianna. we hope some progress is made. thanks again, appreciate it. want to look beyond the politics here and go straight to the bottom line. how much do we all stand to lose if these talks actually fail. the tax policy center crunched out some numbers. they're pretty amazing, when you look at this. if you're single with no kids, you're going to see taxes go up by $1,500 a year. the news is even worse for a married couple with two kids making $100,000.

they'd see their taxes go up $5,300 a year. cnn's christine romans is here to answer another question. who's going to be the first to really feel the bite? what do we know, christine? it just doesn't sound good for anybody. >> the very first people, suzanne, are going to be people on long-term unemployment benefits. those are federal unemployment benefits after the first 26 weeks. those last checks were december 29th, on friday. if they go over the fiscal cliff, they don't have an extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed, that's it. 2 million people about, their last check was on friday. they will not get a check next week. another 1 million will run out in the coming weeks and months, once they run out of their original state benefits of 26 weeks. the long life te-term unemploye get hit first. also, folks, if they do do a deal on tax rates, looks like it's not included in any of these negotiations. that means you're going to see

taxes going up f. the payroll tax withheld will rise from 4.2% to 6.2%. early tax refunds will likely be delayed. you wouldn't have the money to pay off the credit card bills from christmas. that could be the problem. and long-term unemployed benefits expire. for families, four different tax breaks on the line here. probably scaled back. the child tax credit is one of them. you've got several of them that are so important to, especially low income families. childcare and dependent tax credit. earned income tax credit. and the american opportunity tax credit, part of the stimulus the president pushed through in 2009. that's a tax credit for people sending kids through college. these would refer to earlier tax credit levels. that would be money out of people's pockets. a lot of people who say this say it definitely hurts lower income families more than anything else. that said, i just spoke to senator johnny isakson, a republican, and he's sounding

optimistic. >> i think we stand close to a deal. first of all, i'm not sure i have the inside information, but i do believe that the revenue issue is no longer a question. the question is making sure that any new revenues go toward debt spending reduction and deficit relief rather than new spending. it's deficits that got us into this problem. it's only reducing the deficit that's will get us out of this problem. >> the key there is it's my best belief that they've reached an agreement on revenues, that means on this issue of raising taxes on the wealthiest americans. this is still a fight over tax rates for wealthy americans at this point. not sure what else is on the table. doctors, see a 27% cut on the pay they get for medicare services, that's a problem. amt. there's a whole host of people that are going to get hit if they don't fix this. >> that's tough all around for everybody. the fact he's saying it's somewhat optimistic is surprising to me. i haven't heard that much optimism, but we'll see how it goes. christine, thank you. we appreciate it. the outlook on wall street might

be a little gloomy when the opening bell rings later this hour. but investors elsewhere around the world, they're actually holding steady. britain's ftse index and hong kong's hang seng index spent most of the morning down but only slightly. japan's nikkei index was trended in the positive territory. and it is 9:12. weather, we're traveling today, checking out for today's new year's celebration. going to have to bundle up in much of the country. cnn's meteorologist karen mcbegmcgia maginnis is live. >> you may have heard about the peach drop in atlanta, the coverage drop in key west, and the musical note drop in nashville and the space needle in seattle, but the quintessential new year's eve celebration takes place in times square, new york city, going to be a little breezy.

so bundle up. temperatures in the 30s. you get down to some of the areas where the tall buildings are, you get kind of the funneling of the wind, and the result, it's going to feel a little colder than 36 degrees. take awe cross the country. here comes the rainfall for the southeast. in atlanta, it will hold off until after midnight. indianapolis, we'll see 31 degrees at midnight. but the coldest areas that we can find across the lower 48 states will be in the dakotas and the midwest with singlie digits, but that is very deceiving because it's going to feel like minus 20, minus 30 degree windchill factors in those areas. in the central united states, salt lake city only 16 degrees for your new year's celebration. we go towards the west coast, we could see visibility problems as far as seattle is concerned. as the next storm system is expected to move onshore. want to show you where that snowfall is going to be locatesed. primarily right across interstate 70, right across kansas. we'll see kind of a little changeover into the ozarks. could be a rain/snow mix.

suzanne, not everybody going to see the most fantastic, as far as the weather is concerned. in new york, maybe a few flurries, that will only enhance the ambience there. >> that will be nice. it's one of those new year's, maybe you should just cuddle, stay inside with your loved ones. that's a good idea. thanks, karen. appreciate it. fun fact about 2013, this is the first year since 1987 all four numbers are actually different. yeah? different. in auckland and new zealand, already celebrating. check it out. happy new year. all of those enjoying the fireworks display at auckland's sky tower. also celebrating, sydney, australia, ringing in the new year just this past hour.

♪ >> wow, pretty cool stuff. fantastic. nice. happy new year to all. forget your waistline, milk, ice cream, cheese, many other dairy products may soon slim down your wallet if congress fails to vote on a farm bill extension. deadline for action just hours away. my new year's message to washington is that this entire fiscal cliff problem isn't just an isolated incident. it's representative of how partisanship and polarization have taken over congress. tyeah, its the galaxy note ii.re great.

you can do two things at the same time. you can watch videos and text. or you could watch the earnings report and take notes, like we're supposed to. so... can i get it? yeah. okay either of you put together the earnings report yet? yes, me totally. what? why don't you tackle the next quarter. you eat yet? polynesian? pu pu platter? yup! keep up the good work. i will keep up the good work. do more with the new samsung galaxy note ii. ( ♪ ) for those nights when it's more than a bad dream, be ready. for the days when you get a sudden call from the school, be ready. for the times you need to double-check the temperature on the thermometer, be ready. when you have children's motrin on hand, you're ready. for high fever, nothing works faster or lasts longer than children's motrin. be ready with children's motrin.

checking top stories, a suburban new york paper that published a map of people holding gun permits plans to do it again. this time the "journal news" plans to add a third county. the paper has defended the controversial database citing a right to know about gun ownership after the newtown massacre. a woman has been reunited with her two sons thanks to a cnn viewer. the viewer called police saturday after seeing the coverage about the missing brothers. they were found in austin,

texas. their dad now in custody facing a felony charge of interstate interference with custody, and the mom says he failed to return them as planned on wednesday. and the new year going to bring in a pay raise for nearly 1 million minimum wage workers in ten different states. workers in rhode island, they're going to see the biggest bump in pay, about $510 a year. but if congress does not work out a fiscal cliff deal, those workers will not notice much of a difference in paychecks because of higher taxes. and milk might be good for your bones soon mighting bad for your bank account. congress has until tomorrow to vote on a mutual agreement to extend the farm bill by one year, or you could see milk prices double. it's not even certain the vote is going to happen yet, but people already calling the situation the dairy cliff. the secretary of agriculture tom vilsack issuing a dire warning

about all dairy product prices, and he explains why this is happening. >> well, if you like anything made with milk, you're going to be impacted by the fact that there's no farm bill. because if there is not an extension of the existing bill or a new bill, basically on january 1st or shortly thereafter, permanent agricultural law goes back into place, 1949 law, which basically means the federal government will go back in the business of strongly supporting the dairy industry by raising the price support, if you will, or support for dairy products to $38 a hundred weight. that's almost double what the price of milk is today. >> that price could even be $7 or more for a gallon of milk. the current national average is about $3.65. chris galen, he is the vice president of communications for the national milk producers federation. he says a price hike is also going to hurt the dairy farmers. he's joining us on the phone to tell us why. chris, good to have you here. first of all, explain to us how is it that the farmers themselves could be hurt as well if you don't have this farm bill

extended. >> what we're asking congress to do, suzanne, is actually pass a new farm bill, as you mentioned, because that's going to provide dairy farmers a better safety net than what they've had in the past few years. 2012 was a really rough year for dairy farmers. they're really hurting now. we don't want to go back to the 1949 law. it's not a sustainable policy solution long term, however, it may take the prospect of going over the dairy cliff to prompt congress to do its job here in the next few hours here hopefully and pass a new farm bill that has a better safety net for dairy farmers going forward. >> we're all waiting to see what congress does, if they're going to do anything at all in the next 12 hours or so. what would this mean, if you go to the grocery store and you don't have this extension, what kind of prices are we looking at? >> first of all, suzanne, the hangover for consumers and other products tonight won't be

affecting consumers of dairy products tomorrow morning. it doesn't happen that quickly. what would happen, as we go back to the 1949 law, as your sound bite from secretary vilsack indicated, is that the usda would be required to raise prices to dairy farmers, and eventually that would trickle down to consumers of all dairy products. >> are we talking like within days, weeks, months, that you see a dramatic change in grocery shopping? >> it won't be the next few days, but when we're back in our office on january 2nd, one of the first things we'll do is contact the department of agriculture and urge them to move ahead with the permanent law. not because we think it's a sustainable solution long term, but because we need the prospects of that permanent law to hold congress' feet to the fire to get us a new farm bill. >> chris, we're seeing all these pictures. i imagine we're not just talking about milk, but milk by products. there are many different things

we would see on our shelves that would be dramatically much more expensive. can you give us the sense the kinds of things. is it produce, cheese, pizza, ice cream. >> suzanne, it's everything that's made from milk. and i think the other important point is dairy and milk products are not compelling to let congress pass a farm bill. we're the first ones out of a gate, which is how it happens, including on holidays. there are other major commodities, including wheat and corn, that would also be affected by reverting ba can to this 1949 law that tom vilsack mentioned. we're the first one to have this happen to our industry, but it certainly won't be the only commodity affected if congress still doesn't bring us a new farm bill with a new year. >> all right. chris galen, thank you so much. appreciate it. have a good new year. hopefully, they'll get something done in congress, and everything will not be double in price when you go'shoing. the new year's eve test run, check it out, a success.

>> three, two, one, happy new year. >> that's times square setting for tonight's ball drop. we're going to take you there live. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

all systems are go in new york at least. >> three, two, one, happy new year. >> they flipped the switch. times square ball rose 130 feet.

alina cho, double duty. i'm jealous. >> it's cold out here. you're jealous? >> tell us what's going on. >> reporter: people are already lining up behind me. they're in for a long day and a long night. it is bitterly cold outside, suzanne. for all the talk about the confetti, the crystal ball, and all the new year's eve resolutions, here's what you really need to know if you plan to come to times square tonight, dress warmly. it will feel like it is below freezing tonight. let's talk about security. it is mind boggling the amount of security that will be in place. the nypd says there will be thousands more police officers. sharp shooters on roof tops. radiological scanners, explosives teams, firearms teams. tactics teams.

there will be security that you will see and security that you won't see. and lest you be worried it will be secure in times square tonight, there will be surveillance cameras throughout the area. some other things you should know, if you plan to come here, do not bring a large bag or backpack or alcohol. you will not be allowed inside the perimeter, and the other thing you should know -- and some of these people, you might think they're crazy for coming early, get here early. the streets around times square start to close at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. 1 million people expected here. i will tell you it will be packed as usual, suzanne. it will be frigidly cold and hopefully with all the security in place, it will be safe as well. >> alina, toll us about who's going to be inside the perimeter with you. who's going to be performing tonight? >> reporter: well, your favorite and mine, taylor swift. carly ray jepsen.

psy of gangnam style. anderson cooper, anderson, if you're listening, dress warmly. and kathy griffin will be here for their annual show that gets under way at 10:00 p.m. eastern. and when mayor bloomberg presses that button at 11:59 that signals the ball drop, he'll be joined by the radio city rockets, all 36 of them. that is 72 legs in all. one final thing, the times square alliance actually put out a survey. they said that 26% of respondents actually have nobody to kiss tonight. 15% will kiss whomever is standing next to them. 11% will kiss a family member. get this, 3% will actually lock lips with their pet. >> well, alina, we're going to get back to you. we want to know who you're going to kiss tonight. that's going to be part of the story tomorrow. >> reporter: i'd tell you, but i'd have to kill you.

>> way to rock that hat. i know it's cold out there. we'll be checking in with you in a little bit. thanks, alina. tonight is going to be a wild night. they're all right here. cnn's new year's eve live with anderson cooper and kathy griffin starting at 10:00 eastern right there in times square. >> happy holidays from kandahar, afghanistan. i'd like to give a shout out to my wife susanna and daughter jolene in ft. knox, kentucky. also a shout out to chris, sabrina, nathan, and ben. love you guys. happy holidays.

good morning. i'm carol costello. significant health scare for secretary of state hillary clinton. she is in a new york hospital this morning undgoing treatment for a blood clot. doctors think it is tied to a fall and concussion she suffered earlier this month. we now have aerials of the fatal bus crash in oregon that killed nine people and injured at least 26. the charter bus was returning sunday morning to vancouver, british columbia, for las vegas when it skidded on ice and crashed through a guard rail. the cause of the crash is now under investigation. and there is word venezuelan president hugo chavez is suffering from new complications in his cancer treatment. venezuela's vice president says chavez's state of health is delicate. chavez is undergoing treatment in cuba. he has not been seen in public for weeks. and one hour from now we're

going to learn more about the terrorist attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. now, a senate committee will discuss its findings on that september 11th siege that killed the u.s. ambassador and three other americans. the report, we have learned, offers a scathing assessment of state department failures that allow the attackers to enter the compound, quote, unimpeded. with the fiscal cliff deadline just hours away, investors are hoping that there's going to be some kind of breakthrough in these talks. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. alison, simply give us a sense of the mood there. people must be watching very closely on new year's eve what they're doing. >> investors are certainly watching closely on capitol hill. a final trading day of 2012 could go two ways. it could be quiet because no one's around to trade because it's a holiday, or it could be one of the few volatile days

because people are trying to shore up their positions based on how the negotiations are going on capitol hill with the fiscal cliff. some analysts and traders don't really know how the market is going to react if the deadline passes and there's no deal. but one trader told me no deal is better than a band-aid measure or a temporary measure because, as the market sees it, there's no certainty with that. with a short term or band-aid measure, things could keep changing, meaning the rules of the road as far as taxes go, and who's to say that lawmakers would be able to come to any agreement once they get the new negotiations going again. it is clear the market is nervous. you look at the vix. the vix is the market's fear gauge. the vix is up 28% just over the past five days. you look at the level it's sitting at, it's sitting at a level that shows investors they've got real concern about how stocks are going to fare in the short term although the vix right now is down a bit. we are watching stocks down as well. the dow down 26 points. suzanne?

>> i guess, alison, all the markets really want is some consistency and some confidence. all right. we'll be watching. clarity. thank you, alison. appreciate it. if congress can't reach this deal by midnight, higher taxes is not the only concern for a lot of folks. many families may not have money many can youing in at all. nearly 2 million people are at risk of losing their long-term federal unemployment benefits as the new year begins. another 1 million workers are going to exhaust their 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits in the first quarter and are not going to be able to file for a federal extension. joining us now is the president of optimum capital management ryan mack. ryan, good to see you. first of all, a lot of people very worried here because we are talking about those who are really at risk, those who might not get their unemployment benefits. what kind of options do they have. >> essentially, these are a lot of individuals operating out of fear. we do a lot of work around the country talking to those

collecting the checks and basic questions, am i going to be able to eat? am i going to be able to pay for housing and shelter? these are basic concerns. what we have to first understand is we have to start understanding -- while we teach financial literacy, they do have options. they can do things such as making sure that investments are not a priority. liquidity is key. and instead of putting money in the market or make that $10 investment in the stock become the next google, put a budget together. start doing research on improving your credit, making sure that you can start asking certain questions, how can we negotiate our interest rates on our credit cards? make job searching your job, which is essentially a key component in understanding that everything single day, writing down a list of priorities, what am i going to accomplish this day? from 9:00 to 5:00, i would be working, but you are working, getting a database together of all the things you need to -- of different job connections that you may have and ranking them in terms of are they going to say yes or no? >> sure. >> and really making sure from

9:00 to 5:00 you're doing that appropriate search. >> brian, you mentioned something that's really -- it might seem obvious, but a lot of people don't think about this. they say you should stay healthy and take good care of yourself. explain. >> you might not have money for a gym membership, but you can go jogging. you can do a dvd workout in the house. you can try to eat as healthily as possible. these things and making sure that you can -- working out takes that stress level down. allows you to have a healthy mindset and a healthy body, and it also improves your ability, when you go into the interviews, you have a more confident mindset and confident outlook, and he with need you looking bright to make sure you're consistently going on the job searches and showing your best you. >> and you also say too that part of showing your best you is maintaining your faith, a sense of confidence moving forward. >> again, if i can just talk to the unemployed out there for a second. i understand that this political circus right now is a travesty and the fact it has come to this

and we've had a lot of individuals operating out of fear because of it. we need you to have the appropriate amount of faith. if there's a mathematical equation for faith, it's half belief and half acting on that belief. people act according to what they believe is going to happen in life, and we rise and fall together in this country. and we need everybody operating on four cylinders. we need you to believe in that tomorrow. we believe you can find that job. and we need you acting on that belief. i feel for you. i pray for you. we need you in this fight. >> brian, you kopt have said it any better. really talking directly to folks about this. give us a final point here. how do you prevent yourself from being taken advantage of. you're in kind of a desperate situation sometimes. sometimes people take advantage of those who are very needy. >> bottom line, where there is fear and ignorance, there's somebody out there trying to capitalize off fear and ignorance.

those out there might say, hey, you can make $2,000 to $3,000 a day if you join this multilevel marketing scheme. you can come down and cash a check. you don't need a bank account. you don't need improvement. just cash your check and pay us 1% to 5% on your check in order to do that. what you need to do is we don't operate on fear, we operate on faith and educate ourselves. even in hard times of unemployment, educate yourselves and steering clear with these financial predators trying to capitalize on what you don't know. we'll be just fine. >> brian mack, amen. thank you very much. appreciate it. have a good new year. lawmakers responsible for trying to reach this deal on a fiscal cliff, they're about to get a pay raise. yeah, really. a pay raise. that's even though they are on track to go down as the most unproductive congress since the 1940s. they only have an 18% approval rating. that according to the new gallup poll as well. so the raise is a result of an executive order signed by the president to boost federal workers' pay around .5% in late march.

vice president joe biden will see his pay jump from $225,000 to nearly $232,000 a year. house speaker john boehner will see his salary increase to more than $224,000. and senate majority leader harry reid will take home an annual pay of $194,000 after his raise. so those guys are getting a raise. and if you are counting on a tax refund in the next few weeks, the fiscal cliff could force you to wait just a little bit longer than usual.

checking our top stories. the nation is now 14 hours away from the fiscal cliff. sources tell us vice president joe biden and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell talked through the night and vow to keep these negotiations going on today. the gridlock in washington could also hold up your tax refund. you might have to wait until late march to file if congress does not approve a short-term fix for the alternative minimum tax in the next few days. same issue two years ago delayed the opening of tax season by four weeks to mid-february. former president george h.w. bush is still in a houston

hospital but no longer in intensive care. bush was moved to regular patient room on saturday to continue his recovery. the 88-year-old was initially hospitalized with bronchitis last month, came down last week with a stubborn fever. parts of the midwest are under a windchill advisory today. it's going to feel like 35 below in parts of minnesota, iowa, and north dakota. while the south will see some thunderstorms move through later as well. kim kardashian expecting her first child with favorite bad boy rapper kanye west. a spokeswoman for kardashian confirmed the news to cnn. twitterverse exploded sunday night african yes told his conce concertgoers, stop the music for my baby mama. many country as round the world already celebrating 2013.

south korea and japan ringing in the new year in less than 15 minutes. >> hi. my name is captain heather foster currently stationed in bagram air base in afghanistan. i'm from sand point, idaho. i want to give a shout out to my mom, my grandma, and my best friend karen in shand point, idaho. i love you guys. see you soon. i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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military style rifles and high capacity ammunition are in high demand across the country. assault weapons are selling out. public fears of new gun control restrictions are now feeding this frenzy. online retailers, sporting goods stores, manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand. well, while manufacturers and retail stores working forward to meet the public's demand for assault weapons, president obama is stepping up his campaign for new gun regulation, making it a priority in 2013. i understand we have lost brianna keilar. we're going to try to bring her back. welcome to chevy's year-end event. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower.

what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. now through january 2nd, no monthly payments until spring for qualified buyers. get the silverado for 0% apr financing for 60 months plus $1,000 holiday bonus cash. plus trade up for an additional $1,000 trade-in allowance. but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

want to go to the white house. brianna keilar is joining us. we're talking a little bit about how the president is pushing for gun control policy in this country. i wonder if there's a real e appetite now since the school massacre if he feels he's confident he can do something in the new year. >> reporter: he acknowledged the pl political difficulty of doing so in an interview that he did with "meet the press" yesterday. he acknowledged what has been a very tough road for any sort of gun violence legislation that deals with gun control. and this is a question that sho

many people have raised, it's a question of whether this tragedy spurs people to action, whether this is different this time. he said for him it is. he described it as the worst day of his presidency. friday just a couple weeks ago when the shooting happened in newtown, connecticut, he said that something fundamental in america has to change. he's more of what e he said. >> so i'm going to be putting forward a package. i'm going to be putting my full weight behind it and i'm going to be making an argument about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure that something like what happened at sandy hook elementary does not happen again. but ultimately the way this is going to happen is because the american people say that's right. >> reporter: now remember president obama put vice president biden in charge of what's essentially a task force between different agencies and

he has said he wants recommendations really right about now on exactly some recommendations for congress to move forward on. but we know that president obama has urged congress and will continue to do so in the new year to pass an assault weapons ban. to pass a ban on high capacity ammunition clips and to close the gun show loophole so all gun purchasers are suggest to background checks and he also wants to address the mental health issue. >> thank you. appreciate it. if you were watching, the nfl playoffs are set. joe carter is here to tell us who is in and who is out. sunday was exciting. >> thank you. good morning. it was an emotional year, emotional day in indianapolis. head coach chuck pagano back on the sidelines. he's been out since september after being diagnosed with leukemia.

arian foster tapping the chuck strong banner after scoring a touchdown. they finished the regular season 11-5. that's nine more wins than last year. it's the second greatest turn around in nfl history. as you can imagine, they were celebrating in the locker room after the game and why not? this is one of the best fell good stories in the nfl season. look at chuck pagano. he has moves. i love it. the team has rallied around him. another great story that's happened this season has been running back adrian peterson. he may have finished the season with the second best single season rushing total ever, but he and his teammates have plenty of reason to celebrate this monday morning after beating green bay yesterday. peterson capped off his year with a 199-yard performance against the packers including the late 26-yard run that set up the winning field goal and put minnesota into the playoffs. for the season, peterson rushed

for 2,097 yards, just 9 yards short of eric dickerson's all-time single season rushing record. the last time the washington redskins won the nfc east bill clinton was still in the white hou house. and robyn gardner was nine years old. but right now the washington redskins are partying like it's 1999. they beat the cowboys yesterday to become nfc east champs. rg3 ran for 63 yards and a score. the redd skinds were once 3-6 this season. they had to rattle off seven straight wins to win the division and get into the playoffs. dallas eliminated from the post season. who wants to play the denver bronco broncos? nobody is the answer. he threw for three touchdowns.

they beat the chiefs. that gave manning 37 touchdown passes for the season. second best in his great career. the broncos have rattled off 11 straight wins to earn the number 1 seed and with that they are going to be home throughout the entire playoffs. the broncos have been number 1 seed five times. they made it to the super bowl four of those times. here's the matchup for the wild card weekend. houston because they lost three straight have to play in that round. minnesota and green bay will play again in green bay. you have the colts and the ra n ravens and the seahawks and the redskins. >> my dad and my brother went to the redskins game. we won so they were pumped. >> what a great turn around for them. it's been a great story. >> fantastic. thanks again. happy new year. next hour of cnn newsroom

begins after a quick break.

happening now in the newsroom, hour by hour, inch by inch, the nation slides closer to the fiscal cliff. we'll have the latest on this morning's negotiations and how much you'll lose if those talks fail. minimum wage workers in ten states will see a pay raise as we ring in the new year. they might not notice much of a

difference in their paychecks. i'm aly e na cho in times square. new york will host what is argue arguably the biggest party. cnn newsroom starts right now. check that out. happening now it is 2013 already in south korea. seoul, which is 14 hours ahead of new york is ringing in the new year. it's midnight there. you're looking at live pictures of celebrations in seoul, korea. good morning, i'm joe johns in for carol costello. the nation is inching closer to the fiscal cliff. you could be hours away from seeing your paycheck shrink. we're following the last-minute

drama to avoid that. first the health scare of a top diplomat. secretary of state hillary clinton is waking up in a new york hospital being treated for a blood clot that formed after her call and concussion a few weeks ago. dr. jan jay gupta is our chief medical correspondent. do you think the two or related and what are the chances that the clot is on the brain? >> certainly reading that statement that you read, it sounds like they say it was in some way related to the concussion, although maybe not as clearly as people might think. here's why. if someone has a blood clot on their brain as a result of an injury, almost the last thing you want to do is give blood thinners because it can make the bleeding worse and it would also prevent an operation or prohibit an operation from being performed if that was necessary. sort of burn a bridge. so i just don't think it's

directly related in the sense of causing a blood collection on top of the brain. when you think of blood thinners, you think of deep venus thrombosis. that occurs deep in the legs. it can be treated. if it's not, it can be concerning because it can break off and travel through the body and possibly end up in the lungs. so that's something they definitely want to treat. it could also be other things like around the head. but to your point, i don't think this is a blood collection on top of the brain because of the type of treatment she's now receiving. >> sanjay, you touched on this a little bit, but could you walk through how serious this potentially be for hillary clinton. how dangerous is something like this? >> well if you're talking specifically about the thrombosis, it's one of the things in medicine if you treat it and catch it early, it can be very easily dealt with and not

at all concerning because it's something that can -- we know how to treat this. if it's not caught early and that clot starts moving around the body and ends up in the lungs, that can be a very dangerous situation. i can tell you, joe, and you may know this as well. i worked for her back in the late '90s. in 1998 she had this deep vein thrombosis at this time. she called it one of the most frightening medical experiences she had had in her life at that point. it can be of concern. we have the knowledge of how to treat and thin the blood to break up the clot and prevent it from traveling around the body. >> she is a frequent traveler. she's flown all over the world many, many times. those of us who fly a lot e know about the increased dangerous of blood clots generally. is there at least a potential that her flying has actually helped bring this about? >> it's possible.

for the last few weeks, she's sort of been grounded as a result of this concussion. so there's been a little bit of a time lapse, but you're right. she's the most frequent traveled secretary of state in history. you're sitting for a long period of time and that's diminishing the blood flow around your legs and that can allow clots to form. that's certainly putting you at risk. the other thing i'll add is after the concussion she e had, doctors told her to take it easy, to rest a lot, which is hard for her to do. lying around can also put you all the increased risk. the fact that someone has had a blood clot in the past, puts you at risk for one in the future. those three things in combination could lead to the increased risk. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thank you. happy new year. >> take care. >> we'll be watching and checking the secretary of state's health.

now let's get back to the fiscal cliff. we're less than 14 hours from toppling over the edge if lawmakers can't hammer out a deal. the senate is returning to session in 60 minutes from now. president obama is modestly optimistic negotiations can prevent the tax hikes and spending cuts from kicking in. >> we don't yet see an agreement and now the pressure is on congress to produce. if they don't, what i have said is that in the senate, we should go ahead and introduce legislation that would make sure middle class taxes stay where they are and there should be an up or down vote. everybody should have a right to vote on that. if republicans don't like it, they can vote no. >> we're following the last-minute drama to avoid anything bad happening here. dana bash is covering the urgent talks in washington. ali velshi gives us the bottom li line.

and alison kosik is on wall street watching how worried investors are reacting this hour. dana, we want to begin with you. we are hearing there might have been some progress overnight. >> a lot more optimism being expressed from sources in both parties. mitch mcconnell who the prime negotiator on the republican side just moments ago told reporters he spoke to the vice president, who is the prime negotiator now on the democrat side. so not totally all night, but they were up pretty late and early into the morning going back and forth making what again several sources say was significant progress. again, hate to say it, i have seen that movie before. i know you have too in covering similar negotiations like this. this is really, really been a roller coaster with people feeling optimistic and suddenly we hear things hit a snag. as you said, 14 hours to go.

there's nothing like a deadline that really pushes congress to do something. >> and dana, one of the sticking points you have been talking about so much here is negotiations over the income level that will actually see a tax hike. the president has stuck to his $250,000 a year for families. but it's starting to look like congress and specifically the democrats are talking about a number that's significantly above $250,000. >> that's right. the number is $450,000. that's according to democratic sources i'm talking to. that is out of their comfort zone. it's a lot higher than the president campaigned on and even higher than he offered the house speaker a couple weeks ago when they were talking about this grand bargain which didn't go anywhere. that's something that appears to be the operating number on the table. i'm told republicans wanted

$550,000 but that's certainly big progress because that was one of the major sticking points. tax wise we're told the estate tax, which is a sweelter in for republicans, keeping that level low where it is at 35% or at least somewhere in that neighborhood, that's also on the table as far as democrats are concerned. >> are people talking much at all about spending cuts at this stage? >> we're trying to get a handling on that. that's a huge issue. probably don't even need to say that, but it's a huge issue for republans. one of the main parts of this cliff starting tomorrow is that $110 billion in spend iing cuts will go into effect. not immediately, but will start to go into effect. we're told democrats had offered to delay that for one or two years. republicans had told us yesterday that's off the table. they don't see that happening.

but you never know when it comes to these kind of negotiations, particularly between these two men, joe biden and mitch mcconnell, who have struck some deals that have surprised both sides before. >> that's right. and the clock keeps ticking. dana bash, we'll be checking back with you. now let's look behind the politics and go to the bottom line. how much do you stand to lose if the talks fail? the tax policy center crutched some numbers. if you make $50,000 a year and you're single, your taxes will go up by $1,500. the worst is for married couples. their taxes go up $5,300 a year. business correspondent ali velshi is with us in new york. he's going to bring us a closer look. >> those numbers are bad. but a family making $100,000 they can figure out how to make it work without the $5,000 they

will be paying in taxes. it won't be great, but it's okay. here's the biggest problem. all those job cuts, the sequesters shs the spending cuts that are going to come into place, that means people laid off. you take the unemployment rate. projections are they go up to 9.1%. a whole lot of people are unemployed. that's fewer people to buy the things you sell if you're a small business. that's substantially more important than the few thousand dollars more you pay in taxes. i'm not arguing for a tax increase. i'm saying you have to look at this two ways. your personal taxes will go up, but more importantly, in order to get this deal done, there will probably be some concessions on spending. and those spending cuts which we think of in the abstract, we think of the government cutting a trillion dollars, the biggest cost for anybody in any business is labor. so that's people. when you think about defense

cuts, that's not just machines are not being built. it means independent contractors who contract to the defense department will not be getting those jobs. so the much more serious impact here is not actually the taxes you will be payi inpaying, whic real, but it's the effect on the econo economy. a family of two earning $on a couple making $100,000, that's real money. those are things they are not spending that don't result in people getting hired. we have seen consumer confidence take a dip in october after being at great levels because consumers are not sure what's going to happen. they have already started spending less. >> we like to call this the fiscal cliff but people say it's the fiscal slope. a lot of people are hearing they never hear the term again in their lives.

>> myself included. >> thank you so much, ali velshi. it's not just main street that will feel the pain of the fall. wall street is also going to feel it. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. how are the markets doing now? >> it's an interesting day so far. we have seen the markets start deeper in the red than where they are now. they have come back quite a bit. you're seeing the dow flat. you're really seeing the market play off the headlines coming out of washington. the headlines have a more positive slant than a negative slant. that's why you're seeing stocks pair their losses at this point. wall street is not ready to pop the bottles yet. the fiscal cliff is still this albatross around the neck of investors today. the hope is that there's going to be a deal by the end of the day, by the time the deadline comes around. but most analysts say they do expect a type of agreement to come at the 11th hour. the question is what will that look like? 14 hours until the hammer drops.

the last we heard is that progress is going slowly. we're seeing stocks trade pretty much flat right now. the question is where do we go from here? if we get a partial deal, analysts are saying we'd most likely see a moderate selloff. but without a deal at all, that could be a rude awakening when wall street returns to work on wednesday. it's not a given that congress will act. some experts are hoping for a big selloff. they say it could inspire some actual policymaking. who knows. we have seemed to have tried everything to e get lawmakers to do something. they have had the time. >> that's for sure. the truth is wall street has seen many times the congress, capitol hill and the president go through these fiscal cliff hangers and they always end up getting a deal. >> right. but the way wall street sees it, wall street doesn't want this

stopgap little band-aid measure that would have to have lawmakers go back to the table in a few beengs that's not what wall street wants. the opinion here is that there should be a deal. if not, go over the cliff. if there's something in between, less certainty, fewer rules of the road. that's not something that wall street wants at this point. >> i think the fact of the matter is, most people expect this is a battle that this congress and this president is going to be fighting for months and months to come. thanks so much, alison kosik, good talking to you. a decision resting on a few in washington could have a big ripple effect across the country. i'll talk to a small business owner about how no deem on the fiscal cliff could affect his bottom line. >> my new year's message to washington is this. please put an end to the outrageous billion-dollar tax shelters for googal and other big corporations. please fix that before you push

senior citizens over the cliff. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [heart beating]

[heartbeat continues] [heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me... ♪ announcer: this song was created with heartbeats of children in need. find out how it can help frontline health workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org. we're not counting the days now just hours to see if congress can reach a deal. every american would be affected by billions in spending cuts and tax increases. bob pac ard is watching and wait i ing. what type of business do you have and how do you think your business would be affected if we go over the fiscal cliff? >> i have a franchise and we do

promoelg marketing and logo ware and that sort of thing. the fiscal cliff is obviously going to affect us in a number of ways, but if you look at the tax situation, if the the taxes increase, we're already operating under a constrained financial aspect now just with the economy the way it is. it's a fine line. and if the taxes do go up, i see an increase happening in my business, increase in taxes on my customers, that's going to create a lower demand for my product, which creates lower revenue and it's a spiral downward. >> people in wall street talking about the uncertainty of negotiati negotiations dragging on for more than a few days, perhaps a few weeks. how would that affect you? >> there's things we need to do in business. i'd like to be able to hire new people and invest in new

equipment. that's up in the air right now. i'm not sure if that's going to happen. i have to see what's going to play out with with congress and the taxes and everything else they are working with. so for us, it's a wait and see game. >> you are based in the washington, d.c. area. so you're also potentially affected by spending cuts in the government. could you give us a better idea of what that might mean to your business? >> absolutely. that probably is worse than the tax hike. the washington area is probably the strongest area in the country in terms of people that are going to be affected by this. i do business with a lot of contract contractors that work with the federal government. of course, if they are not in business and their demand for my products go down, maybe i'm out of business. i don't know. >> i guess you were affected by the recession in some pretty dramatic ways and there's a potential for a whole new wave.

can you talk about how the recession also affected you? >> absolutely. the last three or four years have been tough. we have had to cut back expenses and personnel. we have done what we can in terms of increasing our revenues more efficiently. we are being smarter about how we spend our money and the customers we're dealing with. the whole aspect of what may happen in terms of losing our customer base is a scary feeling. >> talking about a potential double whammy perhaps if congress and the president don't get a deal on the cliff. thanks so much. happy new year. we hope things work out. >> thanks. the new year's eve test run is a success. times square is set for tonight's ball drop. we'll take you there.

we're now less than 14 hours from ring iing in 2013. all systems are go in new york city. a switch was flipped and the times square ball rose 130 feet at yesterday's test run. cnn's alina cho is in times square for the preparation. i'm missing being there this year. what's it like around you? >> reporter: the crowds are really building around times square right now. people are getting here early as they should. but the number one tip i can

give you if you plan to come to sometimes square is dress warmly. it is 30 degrees officially right now. but it feels like it's 21. tonight when we ring in the new year, it will feel like it's below freezing. so bundle up. let's talk about security. it's something we talk about here in times square at this time of year a lot. but i think it's safe to say that security will be incredibly tight. the nypd says there will be thousands more police officers. there will be sharp shooters on rooftops. there will be raid logical scanners, firearms teams, explosives teams and there will be surveillance cameras throughout. some other things you should keep in mind if you plan to join the biggest new year's eve party in the world is this. if you plan to come into the perimeter of times square, do not bring a large bag or backpack or alcohol. you will not be allowed inside.

and as i mentioned at the top, get here early. at about 1:00 p.m. eastern time, that's less than three hours from now, the roads around times square begin to close to vehicular traffic. you want to get in here. the other thing you should know is once you get in here in the afternoon, if you leave, you can't get back in. so make sure you have everything if you enter this zone, so to speak. if will be one big party. one million people are expected. it will be packed and it will be cold and hopefully with all the security it will be safe. >> that's right. the more people you have the wa warmer it gets because of the body heat perhaps. let's talk a little bit about the performers tonight. i know there's some big names on the way. >> there are some big names. we should start with our own. anderson cooper and kathy griffin will be hosting a new year's eve special. that kicks off at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. taylor swift, train, psy are

among the performers. want to tell you about the crystal ball. it seems to get bigger and better. this year is no exception. it will be 12 feet in diameter. it weighs nearly 12,000 pounds and powered by 32,000 led lights. something else that will be falling from the sky tonight, 2,000 pounds of confetti. that works out to 17 million individual pieces. by the way, at 12:15 a.m. promptly at 12:15, the cleanup crews come in and by tomorrow it's really incredible. it as if new york never had a new year's eve party. it's clean in times square. the traffic is flow iing again. and you'd never know all these crowds were here. >> the city that never sleeps,

it's amaze egg. i have seen them do it myself. pretty incredible. thanks so much. we'll be looking forward to your reports. tonight will be a wild night. you can see it all here on cnn's new year's eve live with anderson cooper. that's at 10:00 eastern from times square. tyeah, its the galaxy note ii.re great. you can do two things at the same time. you can watch videos and text. or you could watch the earnings report and take notes, like we're supposed to. so... can i get it? yeah. okay either of you put together the earnings report yet? yes, me totally. what? why don't you tackle the next quarter. you eat yet? polynesian? pu pu platter? yup! keep up the good work. i will keep up the good work. do more with the new samsung galaxy note ii.

let's say you want to get ahead how do you get from here... to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route... leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work.

happening now on capitol hill, senators are release iing

special report on the terrorist attack that killed the u.s. ambassador. another scathing assessment of the state department and its failure to protect the u.s. consulate in benghazi. we're expecting to hear from a number of members of congress there in just a little while. our foreign affairs correspondent is also monitoring that and she'll get back to us with a report as events merit. you have probably never heard of the office of congressional ethics. it's an office you should be concerned about because it's one of the most important watchdogs in washington. it investigates possible wrong doing by members of congress. now the office of congressional ethics is in danger of being eliminated. >> what is outrageous about it is you see members of congress on both sides saying they have zero tolerance for unethical contact conduct, but they are trying to kill the one body in

congress that's trying to seriously go after unethical members. >> reporter: melanie sloan is the director of crew. she's talking about the office of congressional ethics, the only government body outside of the congress whose sole mandate is to look at members in congress. members of congress want the committee gone. >> the oce forced them to take ethics more seriously. it's forced the ethics committee to act and let all members know they are not going to be able to just skate by. >> crew is considered by some to be left leaning and liberal, but they are not the only ones worried about the oce. >> one of your counterparts told us members of congress will publicly say they support the oce, they support cracking down on ethics while privately they are trying to kill it. do you think that's true? >> yes.

that is true. >> ken boem is chairman of the right-leaning national legal and policy center. >> if oce goes away, if the members are not named, what message does that send to the public? >> it sends a message that not only is this system broken, but it doesn't even exist anymore. >> the oce was formed just four years ago after scandals and corruption had grown so bad the house had to clean up its act. nancy pelosi helped create the oce as a solution. the oce has done more than 100 investigations of lawmakers raising serious questions about possibly congressional misdeeds. in 37 of those investigations, the oce referred them on to the twauld house ethics committee for further review meaning in those 37 cases the oce found reason to believe that house ethics and federal laws were likely violated. so why does congress want to kill it? actually that's hard to say.

folks like these who have in the past voted to cut the oce budget refused to talk to us. for those who would talk, opinions were mixed. >> i think it's important that there be some way for the public or someone outside of congress to raise issues about the conduct of members of congress. some of the things that oce has sent to the ethics committee was actually pretty flimsy. >> i supported it the first time, i'll support it again. >> is there anything oce has done specifically that might have rubbed the congress the wrong way to the point where they wouldn't want to get it going again? >> in fact, nearly everything the oce does has rubbed the entire congress the wrong way. that's because they don't want to hold anyone accountable. >> reporter: who served more

than 30 years and helped chair the famous 9/11 commission. e he says the getting the new board members appointed is crucial. >> whether or not you appoint the new members to the oce is a critical point. >> reporter: congressman hamilton is the director on center on congress at indiana university. >> it is going to tell us whether the leaders of the congress are serious or whether they are not serious about the enforcement of the standards of conduct within the institution. this is a critical test. >> it's really hard to know exa exactly who is quietly leading the effort to kill the oce. in the past, several lawmakers have criticized the agency or voted to slash its budget. john boehner and nancy pelosi need to lead the effort to reauthorize the oce and appoint new board members. so far it hasn't happened. forget your waistline. milk, ice cream and other dairy

products might slim down your wallet if congress fails to vote on a farm bill. the deadline is just hours away. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. so, the 5.3-liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds? 315 horsepower. what's that in reindeer-power? [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevy's giving more. now through january 2nd, no monthly payments until spring for qualified buyers.

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the price of milk and other dairy products may double if

congress fails to pass a farm bill extension by tomorrow. susan spoke to the national milk producers federation who said the biggest losers have not our bank accounts but the farmers. >> we're asking congress to pass a new farm bill because that's going to provide dairy farmers a better safety net than what they have had. 2012 was a rough year for dairy farmers and so they are hurting. we don't want to go back to the 1949 law. it's not a sustainable policy long-term. however, it may take the prospect of going over the dairy cliff to prompt congress to do its job and pass a new bill that has a better safety net for dairy farmers going forward. >> we're all waiting to see what congress does. what would this mean if you go to the grocery store and don't

have this extension? what kind of prices are we looking at? >> the hangover for consumers won't be affecting consumers of dairy products tomorrow morning. it doesn't happen that quickly. what would happen if we go back to the law is that the usda would be required to raise prices to dairy farmers and eventually that would trickle down to consumers. >> are we talking about like within days, weeks, months that you see some sort of dramatic change? >> it won't be in the next few days, but when we're back in our office on january 2nd, one of the first things we'll do is contact the department of agriculture and urge them to move ahead with this permanent law. not because we think it's a sustainable solution long-term, but e because we need the prospects of that permanent law to hold congress's feet to the

fire. >> we're seeing all these pictures. we're not just talking about milk, but we're talking about milk by products. there are many things we would see that would be much more expensive. can you give us a sense of the kinds of things? is it produce, cheese, pizza? >> it's everything made from milk. the other important point is that dairy and milk products are not the only commodities affected by congress failing to pass the farm bill. we're the first one out of the gate because of how dairy production happens which is every day of the year. there are other major commodities including wheat and corn that would also be affected by reverting back to this 1949 law that tom vilsack mentioned. we're the first one to have this happen to our industry, but it won't be the only commodity affected if congress still doesn't bring us a new farm bill. >> leaders have agreed to a

one-year extension. the house has until tomorrow to vote on it. he's not out of the hospital yet, but things are looking up for former president george h.w. bush. we'll have the latest on his condition. i love to eat. i love hanging out with my friends. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs,

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checking top stories now. the nation is just about 13 hours away from the fiscal cliff. sources tell us the u.s. vice president joe biden and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell talked through the night and vowed to keep negotiations going on today. the former president george hw bush is still in the hospital but no longer in intensive care. he was moved to a regular room. he was initially hospitalized with bronchitis last month and last week came down with a stubborn fever. military-style rifles are in high demand across the country. assault weapons are selling out. public fears of new gun control restrictions are feeding the frenzy. sporting goods stores and manufactur manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand. and while manufacturers in retail stores meet work hard to meet the demand, president obama is stepping up his campaign for

new gun regulation and making it a top priority in 2013. brianna keilar is at the white house. what do you think new gun control regulation is going to be an uphill battle for the president? >> reporter: that's the thought. president obama addressed this. he admitted this is something that's difficult and has been historically to get through congress because there are a number of democrats as well as republicans who support gun rights. but he said for him at least he felt like what happened in newtown was different in that it changes things. he also said the day of the shooting in connecticut that it was the worst day of his presidency. he said that something fundamental has to change in america. here's what else he said on "meet the press." >> i'm going to be putting forward a package and i'm going to be making an argument to the american people about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make

sure that something like what happened at sandy hook elementary does not happen again. ultimately, the way this is going to happen is because the american people say that's right. >> reporter: as you know, the president has tasked vice president joe biden with leading what's really a task force across agencies education, homeland security, trying to come up with recommendations for a comprehensive way forward. president obama is urging congress to do a number of things to pass a ban on assault weapons. . a ban on high capacity ammunition clips as well as to close the gun show loophole. he's also talked about wanting to make sure that mental health is an issue and that people have access to resources to deal with m mental health issues. as much access to mental health care as they would to a gun.

>> these are just bruising battles on capitol hill. the gun lobby is organized. they are motivated. is there any reason to think this administration really is motivated to take on that kind of a fight? >> reporter: i think it's something personnel for president obama. that's really the sense that he's given. when he said this was the worst day of his presidency, you could see how much he was affected by this. he said when it comes to this task force, he wants recommendations by the new year. this is something he wants congress to deal with. i think it's still to be seen whether there's an appetite to deal with it in congress because the rhythm of the stories is it's a tragedy but the motivation of it goes away over time. i think we have yet to see e that. but i think president obama is going to try to go to battle on this issue. >> that's very interesting. thank you for that.

brianna keilar at the white house. happening now on capitol hill, senators are releasing a special report on the attack that killed the ambassador. what they are saying, next. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please? gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone...but her likes 50% more cash. but i'm upping my game. do you want a candy cane? yes! do you want the puppy? yes! do you want a tricycle? yes! do you want 50 percent more cash? no! ♪ festive. [ male announcer ] the capital one

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happening now, u.s. senators on capitol hill are releasing a scathing new report on the attack on the u.s. consulate in

benghazi. on the right of your screen is maine senator susan collins. she's one of the two top members on the senate homeland security committee. let's bring in our own jill dauerty, our foreign affairs correspondent who is monitoring this from the state department. what can you tell us? >> if you listen to what the senator is saying and also senator joe lieberman, they are coming up with essentially three different things. the main thing is that there was a rising crescendo of evidence from the intelligence community and even open sources that benghazi was increasingly dangerous and attacks there were more and more likely, but the reaction was woefully inadequate. they say the system as one official was flashing red. the state department, they say, did not adequately respond to that. another key point is they talk about security. security in other countries for embassies and consulates is the

responsibility of that local government. but in libya, they say the libyan government was not at all adequate to the task so they turned to local guards and militias who also were dubious and that was one of the key problems. senator lieberman and let's listen to what he says, he believes if you can't provide security, you should close it. >> the state department failed to take adequate steps to fill those security gaps, failed to adequately support security requests from their own perce personnel in benghazi and failed to make the one remaining decision that cries out to me as i look at the evidence here was to simply say we've got to close this facility because we can't protect american personnel in benghazi. >> that's one of the dee issues all along. the state department made it clear they have to work in dangerous places, but what these

senators are saying is that if you cannot do it realistically you shouldn't put people in such harm's way. the department o of defense were not coordinated in terms of potential for attack. so that the dod was not able to muster people to get in there and provide some type of rescue. and finally inconsistent statements by the obama administration during a political campaign, these senators are saying led to a lot of confusion and it should never, they say, the intelligence community should never be agreeing to provide talking points in such an environment. especially political campaign as happened during that plolitical campaign. >> starting to get some answers on benghazi. thanks for that. we'll be back in a moment.

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what those folks do about the fiscal cliff may have investors on edge, but alison kosik has more on the dow's best performers this year. >> you're right about that, joe. it's interesting because you look at the heartburn that lawmakers have caused investors in this market and you're right, it hasn't been too bad of a

year. the question is which stocks in the dow have done the best? as of friday's close, bank of america, that has double d its stock price. part of that has to do with how low it began the year, but it's also been streamlining things. it's getting further away from the housing crisis that took such a toll on the company products. they have also been getting rid of nonessential assets. shares of home depot are up 44% this year because home depot has benefitted from the rebound in the housing market along with a boost in east coast sales. and walt disney, jpmorgan chase. the worst performer on the dow has been hew let pac ard, down 47%. this company hasn't been able to